The present invention relates to amplifiers for acoustic instruments, specifically an acoustic drum set amplifier specifically calibrated for each instrument within a drum set for optimizing the sound frequency of the instrument.
The inventor is a musician with extensive knowledge and experience in the music industry; particularly the technical aspects involved in optimizing acoustic sound quality for live performances.
It is imperative not only that each instrument is properly tuned, but that the amplifiers and sound equalizers are properly calibrated so that the desired sound of each instrument is delivered to the audience.
Understandably, each musician wants to have direct input into the sound of his or her instrument that is delivered to the audience.
For this reason live musicians engage in pre-show sound checks to ensure that the sound delivered to the audience corresponds to the sound the musician wishes to deliver. It is during the pre-show sound check that the members of the band, mostly, the guitarists and vocalists, work with the sound engineers of the sound crew to ensure that the sound delivered to the audience corresponds to the desired sound of the musicians.
Even before the sound engineers make any adjustments, the guitarists can make adjustments to the output of their instruments using sound equalizers, pre-amplifiers and traditional amplifiers.
Each sound equalizer, pre-amplifier and amplifier is designed to operate within a specific range of frequencies that correspond to the natural acoustic frequency of the instrument to which the equalizer or amplifier is connected. As such, a pre-amplifier and equalizer designed to operate with a lead guitar or a rhythm guitar that is connected to the pick up and amplifier designed for a bass guitar would not sound like a lead guitar or rhythm guitar, because the range of frequencies associated with a lead guitar or rhythm guitar differs significantly from the range of frequencies associated with a bass guitar.
Sound equalizers, pre-amplifiers and acoustic amplifiers exist for the various guitars, i.e. lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and bass guitar and these same devices exist for the vocalists of the group. In addition to allowing the musician to fine tune the sound of the music that is being delivered to the audience, such devices often also include an output device that allows the musician to hear, in real time, the sound that is delivered to the audience, while the musician is playing. Until the present invention, this was not available to the percussion section of a music group.
To address this problem, the inventor created the present invention, an acoustic drum set amplifier specifically calibrated for each instrument within a drum set for optimizing the sound frequency of each instrument in the drum set. The present invention comprises essentially of an electric power supply input, at least one electro-acoustical sound input channel comprising of an amplifier, at least one selectively operable variable frequency filter, at least one pre-calibrated dynamic compressor, at least one variable frequency manipulator, an electro-acoustical signal mixer, at least one output channel, an output channel volume control, a selectively operable Drum Module In/Out, an alternative monitoring volume control for a drum field mix, and a dedicated playback input channel.
In operation, an electro-acoustical sound input channel is connected to a microphone that is placed in close proximity with each instrument of a percussion drum set, whereby the microphone can capture sound and transmit said sound to the electro-acoustical sound input channels. Using one of the device's selectively operable variable frequency filters to filters signals having frequencies ranging from about 40 Hz to about 300 Hz generated from the electro-acoustical sound input channel amplifier, the user can identify and control any signal having a frequency outside the desired range for that instrument (an “offending signal”). Using one of the device's pre-calibrated dynamic compressors to compresses the electrical signal filtered through the selectively operable variable frequency filter within a predetermined compression range, the user can correct the signal frequency within the compression range. Using one of the device's variable frequency manipulators, the user can manipulate frequencies of the electro-acoustical signal compressed by the pre-calibrated dynamic compressor ranging from about 41 Hz to about 16 Khz and filter electrical signals having frequencies less than 80 Hz, thereby creating a manipulated electro-acoustical signal. Using the device's electro-acoustical signal mixer, the user can mix the electro-acoustical signal with a signal from another source. Each electro-acoustical sound input channel has a corresponding electro-acoustical sound output channel with a dedicated volume control. The device also includes a selectively operable Drum Module In/Out, the selectively operable Drum Module In/Out comprises of at least one output feed and at least one input feed, the input feed is directed to an acoustic/electronic signal blender, the acoustic/electronic signal blender blends the signal from the input feed with the manipulated electro-acoustical signal of the variable frequency manipulator, it is possible that the input feed is generated by an electronic drum module. The device also includes an alternative monitoring volume control for a drum field mix, the alternative monitoring volume control comprises a volume control mechanism that ranges from about −15 DB to about 15 DB, whereby 0 DB corresponds to the volume of the output channel volume control of the electro-acoustical sound output channel., the alternative monitoring volume control further comprises of a dedicated output channel. The device also includes a dedicated playback input channel, the dedicated playback input channel further comprises of a left channel, a right channel and a click track channel, the left channel and right channel share a common volume control and the click track channel has a separate dedicated volume control.
One of the key features of the present invention is that the device is specifically calibrated for frequencies that are produced by a percussion drum and provides for a filtering mechanism to remove frequencies that fall outside of the desired range and allows a percussion artist to adjust the sound that is delivered to an audience based on the preferences of the percussion artist rather than a third person.
Another key feature of the present invention is that the device allows for an artist to selectively blend a manipulated electro-acoustic signal with an electro-acoustic signal generated by a remote source, such as an electronic drum module. The artist may also monitor the sound delivered to the audience through the dedicated playback channel and associated drum field and click tracks.
An objective of the present invention is to provide a device that is specifically calibrated for each instrument within a drum set for optimizing the sound frequency of the instrument.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a device that allows for the removal of frequencies that fall outside of a desired range.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a device that allows for a percussion artist to have an active role in the sound that is delivered to an audience.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a device that allows for the selective blending of manipulated electro-acoustic signal with the natural optimized electro-acoustic signal of a percussion instrument.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a device that is calibrated to be used with an instrument selected from the group consisting of a snare drum, bass drum, bongo drum, tom-tom drums, a hi-hat, ride cymbal and crash cymbals.
Yet a further objective of the present invention is to provide a device that allows for the selective blending of manipulated electro-acoustic signal with signals generated by remote sources such as electronic drum modules.
Still a further objective of the present invention is to provide a device that allows an artist to monitor the sound of a drum set that is delivered to an audience through a dedicated playback channel and associated drum field and click tracks.
Thomson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,049, and May, U.S. Pat. No. 7,297,863, and Coolidge, U.S. Pat. No. 7,282,633 disclose various sound augmentation systems for percussion drums and Ponto et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,300 discloses a sound mixer device; however none of the aforementioned references discloses each limitation of the present invention.
For the foregoing reasons there exists a need for an acoustic drum set amplifier specifically calibrated for each instrument within a drum set for optimizing the sound frequency of each instrument in the drum set comprising essentially of an electric power supply input, at least one electro-acoustical sound input channel comprising of an amplifier, at least one selectively operable variable frequency filter, at least one pre-calibrated dynamic compressor, at least one variable frequency manipulator, an electro-acoustical signal mixer, at least one output channel, an output channel volume control, a selectively operable Drum Module In/Out, an alternative monitoring volume control for a drum field mix, and a dedicated playback input channel.